Arts
A whirlwind experience
View(s):A newcomer to the world of modelling, Tracy Anne de Zilva who made it to first runner-up at the Dulux Ambiance Miss Intercontinental pageant talks to Kaveesha Fernando
This time last year, Tracy de Zilva was teaching in the pre-school and primary section of the British School in Colombo. This year, she’s giving interviews and doing photoshoots. Next year, the sky just might be the limit for this 23-year-old beauty queen who won the title of the Asian Continental queen in the Miss Intercontinental pageant and was placed first runner-up overall.
The pageant, Tracy says, was an exciting, whirlwind experience – taking part in photo-shoots, touring the island and eating healthy, exercising and preparing for the big final. “It’s not just about beauty,” she states firmly, adding that having the brains to respond to questions well and absorb the different situations, handle all the different experiences with grace and poise is all very much a part of the experience. Sri Lanka as a destination for Miss Intercontinental benefited the tourism sector of the industry because most of the girls wanted to revisit our island nation, having realized that they had only seen a fraction of what the country has to offer.
In the competitive environment of a beauty pageant, Tracy’s caring nature won her many friends.“Everyone will remember me as the girl who is genuinely nice and genuinely cares about people. There’s more important things in life than winning,” she says simply. A girl who grew up liking the thought of dressing up, being a princess and the ideology behind beauty pageants in general, she looks back at what she has achieved with a sense of pride. Her career began only this year when she appeared on the cover page of the March- May issue of the Brides of Sri Lanka, and she feels that it was the encouragement she received from people such as Ramani Fernando which made her contest for the title of Miss Sri Lanka for Miss Intercontinental.
There were the difficult moments, she confesses. During the question round, she was asked if there was one thing in the world she could change. Nerves got in the way of her reply halfway through and she started speaking about Sri Lanka instead of the world, she says. “If I could go back and change what I said a bit I would, but otherwise no regrets” she says.
Her religious upbringing is something which Tracy loves speaking about and which she feels is a major influence in her life. In fact, her parents had some reservations about her going into modelling, but they supported her decision eventually. But modelling is only a hobby and not going to be a full-time career. A former student of Stafford International School, Tracy has diplomas in teaching and business and with her sister living in Australia, she feels that she must eventually take over the family business – Ceegeez Associates which imports and distributes medical equipment.
Has her overnight success as a model made it difficult to stick to the values which she was raised with? She answers no; she feels that this is not the case because her foundation is so strong that nothing can make her forget who she is. However, she is aware that being an open and friendly person does have its disadvantages. “You should be vigilant and be aware of who people are and know where to draw the line,” she says. However, her friendly nature did make her raise Miss Puerto Rico’s hand in the air when she was announced as Miss Intercontinental in the final crucial moments of the pageant. “She had taken part in a few pageants before and I knew she really wanted it and she deserved it. So at that point I was just thinking – here’s your new queen,” she says.
Describing herself as a die-hard foodie, Tracy states that she did watch her diet, but never did anything too extreme. “All I did was cut down my favourite food (Chinese)to a few times a week rather than eating it all the time. I am not a juice cleanse person, that’s just not me and it’s sad when women and girls feel the need to conform to such ideals,” she says. If someone is comfortable in their own skin and is a good human being, she would automatically consider them beautiful, she says.
For now, the glamour and glory apart, she will also get involved in charitable projects. “Cinnamon Hotels and Resorts looks forward to working with me in the future” is the only response we can coax out of her about what lucrative deals might be in the future for her. She thinks that she will take part in one major pageant before she settles down and gets married. This time, she just might go for the big league such as Miss Universe or Miss World so keep your eyes open for Tracy Anne de Zilva.